The present invention relates to electro-optic modulation of an optical signal to transport data, and more specifically, to a controlled-capacitance full-depletion interdigitated PIN modulator.
The transmission of data via optical signals facilitates transport over longer distances than via many other types of signals. The optical signal is generated by modulating light with the data using an electro-optic modulator (EOM) which may implement an interference process, for example. The phase, frequency, amplitude, and/or polarization of a light beam may be modulated. An exemplary electro-optic modulator that modulates amplitude of a light beam is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The MZI includes a beam splitter that divides light into two paths, at least one of which has a phase modulator. The light beams in the two paths are recombined, and, based on the electric field on the modulated path(s), the two beams interfere to control the amplitude or intensity of resultant light at a specific optical output of the device.